A household cooking appliance, such as a gas cooking range or a standalone cooktop, may include a plurality of gas burners disposed on an upper surface of the cooking appliance. A control panel may be disposed on a front surface or an upper surface of the cooking appliance and commonly includes a plurality of knobs for controlling the individual gas burners. One or more gas burners can include a simmer feature.
FIG. 9 illustrates an example of a conventional simmer assembly for a cooking appliance. The conventional simmer assembly commonly includes a control panel 6, a control knob 8, a position encoder such as a simmer potentiometer 10, a gas valve 12 having a valve stem 14, and a gas supply line 18 coupled to the gas valve 12. As illustrated in FIG. 10, the valve stem 14 may include, for example, a flat cam surface 14a for engaging a corresponding surface of the simmer potentiometer 10 such that the rotational movement of the valve stem 14 can rotate a part of the simmer potentiometer 10 for determining a position of the valve stem 14.
During assembly, the potentiometer 10 is first inserted onto the valve stem 14 of the gas valve 12 from the front. The valve stem 14 can engage a wiper rotor (not shown in FIG. 9) that is rotatably mounted inside a housing of the potentiometer 10. The valve stem 14 then is inserted through an opening 16 in a bracket of the control panel 6. A control knob 8 is coupled to the free end of the valve stem 14 on an opposite side (i.e., front side) of the control panel 6 from the potentiometer 10. The gas supply line 18 is coupled to the gas valve 12. A leak test commonly is performed on the simmer assembly following the assembly process.
In order to service the conventional potentiometer 10, a technician commonly has two options for removing the potentiometer 10 after it has been installed in the cooking appliance. One option is to remove the control panel 6 from the cooking appliance and then slide the potentiometer 10 off from the front of the valve stem 14 of the gas valve 12. The technician then can slide a new potentiometer onto the valve stem 14 from the front and perform the above-mentioned steps in reverse order.
Another option is to remove the control knob 8 from the valve stem 14, disconnect the gas valve 12, and then remove the valve stem 14 from the control panel 6. Once the valve stem 14 is removed from the control panel 6, the technician can slide the potentiometer 10 off of the valve stem 14 from the front. The technician then can slide a new potentiometer onto the valve stem 14 from the front and perform the above-mentioned steps in reverse order.
Each of these processes can be time consuming and may take, for example, in excess of an hour of repair time by a technician. Additionally, if the gas valve 12 is disconnected, as in the second option, then the technician also must re-test the system for leaks following the re-assembly of the system. Hence, a user commonly will need to have a technician perform these services, thereby increasing the costs and inconvenience to the consumer, as well increasing the amount of time and complexity of performing the service.